As I mentioned over here the company was offering an early retirement program for employees.
They needed to reduce head count by X number of employees. When they announced the program there was much talk about how there would be involuntary reductions if they did not get X number of voluntary reductions. they even went so far as to offer this program to people that were under 55 and did not have 10 years experience ( the cut off for earlier programs)
Guess what, they did not get X number of applicants, they got 175% of X applied.
:smack:
From the ass covering, chicken running around with no head, that has been going on, it is obvious they never considered this possibility.
Nice work Sparky.
Now keep in mind we are supposed to retire on 2/28. Also don’t forget that it takes 1 month to process our retirement papers. So to get our retirement on 3/1 we need to have applied by no later than 2/1.
::: Looks at calendar:::
Today is 2/15; it is now half past Feb.
I got a call this afternoon from my manager. It seems that management has made three lists.
First list: Those that are getting the early retirement deal. I am not on that list.
Second list: Those that are not getting the early retirement deal. I am also not on that list.
Third list: Those that are on standby. I am on this list.
My sales company is asking Volvo Sweden if we can reduce head count by more than the X number. If Sweden says yes, I am out of here with my early retirement. If they say no, I am fucked. I can quit, but there is about 100K in real money that I don’t get.
Jesus, do have to be an idiot with no common sense to be an boss in this company? Ford posted a 12.7 BILLION dollar loss, and it did not occur to you that your employees might want to get the hell out with their pensions intact before Mullaly and Bill Ford had a chance to go to court and terminate the pension plan?
It never occurred to you that you might have more than X number of employees apply for the early retirement?
You never gave that possibility a thought?
Do you really think we love you that much?*
So I have to ask. Are you stoned or are you stupid?
I asked when I will hear one way or the other. I might hear on the 27th if I am lucky. I am scheduled to retire on the 28th. Don’t forget it takes 1 month to push the retirement paperwork. There is one month between 2/27 and 2/28 right?
Since this is the pit, fucking fuckers, don’t have a fucking clue. They could not get a fucking clue if it was clue mating season, they were in a clue singles bar located at the clue mating gound, at closing time, they had one hundred dollar bills hanging out of their pockets. Furthermore even if they were covered in clue musk, and all the female clues were drunk, they still could not get a clue.
I really do love this company and this job. I don’t want to leave, but the thought of losing my pension scares the crap out of me. That fear is far greater than my love for this job.
If the company reduces its workforce by its original target of X, does that not mean that any other workers remain on the payroll? I think I am misunderstanding the concern here.
OK, here is your choice
You can:
A Remain on the payroll for the same amout of money you have been making. If the company goes to court and terminates your pension you might see 0.10 on the dollar of your pension.
or
B Get the fuck out now, get 13 months income, full benefits for 6 months, a supplemental retirement till age 62, you can take the full value of your retirement plan and roll it into an IRA where it is safe. Plus a few other odds and ends of benefits. You are also free to go out and find another job for maybe 50% more than you are making today.
In other words, choice A= keep working here and maybe get fucked.
Choice B = here is $100,000 and your pension go somewhere else and get a job for 50% more than you are making now.
So now do you see why I am whining ?
Otto, by my reading of the OP, he’s scared (not without reason) that if he stays employed with the company, he’ll be one of the people who get screwed when the company goes to court to petition to reduce/eliminate its pension obligations.
I’m not sure, but I also wonder whether the request to retire is being processed seperately from the request to be in on the buy out. Ergo, the OP seems to have some concern about being unemployed on March 1, but not retired, and collecting a pension.
Am I really that drunk that I am not making any sense?
I can stay working here and maybe lose my pension.
or
I can leave with $100,000 dollars in my pocket and my pension secure.
::: sigh:::
As much as I wish that were true, it is not.
The company came and offered an early retirement plan. (here is a pile of cash go away) They had too many takers. Some of the takers got a for sure, others of us with not as much senority are on a standby list and we might get the package.
I am waiting (and hoping) that I will get included into that program.
If do not get included, I will probably leave the company anyway, but with about $100,000 less than I would have under the early retirement program.
I don’t know about you, but a hundred grand is enough to get my attention.
Where I come from a hundred grand is enough to start a pit thead over.
[QUOTE=Rick
I don’t know about you, but a hundred grand is enough to get my attention.
Where I come from a hundred grand is enough to start a pit thead over.[/QUOTE]
A hundred grand is 2-5 years income, so it is nothing to sneeze at.
However…
[Quote=
Originally Posted by Rick
OK, here is your choice
You can:
A Remain on the payroll for the same amout of money you have been making. If the company goes to court and terminates your pension you might see 0.10 on the dollar of your pension.
or
B Get the fuck out now, get 13 months income, full benefits for 6 months, a supplemental retirement till age 62, you can take the full value of your retirement plan and roll it into an IRA where it is safe. Plus a few other odds and ends of benefits. You are also free to go out and find another job for maybe 50% more than you are making today.
In other words, choice A= keep working here and maybe get fucked.
Choice B = here is $100,000 and your pension go somewhere else and get a job for 50% more than you are making now.
So now do you see why I am whining ?
So which choice do you think I should make?[/quote]
However, you have no evidence at all that you’ll lose your pension. Judges don’t like to give away pensions.
So, if they say “no” it is just as likely you’ll continue to get your paycheck and get your pension. Perhaps the pension might be less or might need some more contributions form the employees but I doubt if you are “fucked”.
Of course, I ain’t no lawyer and I could be wrong.
But doesn’t your company have a Union- what does the Union say?
